Use this Checklist when evaluating your options.
Below is your go to checklist to find the best bitcoin mining hosting facility to meet your needs.
Evaluate the data center’s infrastructure: inquire about the type of facility, the types of components, how it was built, certifications of the equipment (i.e. are the electronics UL listed), how robust is the cooling, etc.
Understand the background of the management team: Find out if the management team is doing this full-time or if it is a part-time endeavor. Find out if they mine themselves (you want a provider that mines themselves). Learn about their background to understand how they think about customer service and support, their technical capabilities, and their accounting capabilities, etc.
Ask about repairs and maintenance technical capabilities: Ask about the capabilities to undergo repairs on-site vs off-site. For example, it is common for simple repairs (i.e. PSU replacement) to be completed on-site and more complex repairs (i.e. chip level) to be sent to a third-party repair company. Ask about warranty repairs and how those are handled / costs associated with warranty repairs. Ask about the amount of staff that is available and timeframes to complete repair tasks.
Make sure there are no additional hidden fees: Read your contract in depth. Specifically understand the monthly hosting rates, repair fees, set-up fees, tear-down fees, processing fees, etc. Ask about credits for downtime and their process to determine and award credits. Also, watch out for providers that charge a lower per kWh rate but then tack on other fees. Do the math to understand your all-in rate. Very often structures with enticing headline rates and add-on fees like this are designed to entice the miner to a low kWh rate but the all-in rate can be higher.
Understand the contract: Understand your obligations within the contract beyond fees. For example, what is the timeframe you need to give the provider if you want to terminate your contract? Or, what rights do you have if up-time is not meeting your expectations?
Talk to the management team to feel them out: This is an important one. Make sure to speak to the team to get a sense of whether or not they are trustworthy and competent. Ask digging questions to get a sense of how they will be to deal with. Trust your gut here. You want to feel good that the company will communicate well with you when you need it and will treat you well if an issue arises.
Ask about the company’s future plans: Understand where the company is today and where they are going. Are they building ten sites at once in different locations? Do they have massive debt financing the operation or is it equity funded? Are they growing at a reasonable pace? If they are taking small orders today but that is not the long-term plan, you want to know these things.
Ask for pictures of the site: Get some photos of the site. Make sure it is clean and organized. Look for any red flags with the site design or disorganization.
Evaluate materials provided: You want to be on the lookout for signals of unprofessionalism wherever you can. Look at the professionalism and quality of any materials, communications, and websites. For example, sloppy contracts or poor marketing materials usually translate to lower quality in the operation as a whole. You want to spot signals for professionalism or lack thereof in any place you can. If anything is off, that means you need to dig in further to find out why. You want to find a provider that focuses on the details in everything they do.
Analyze the entire offering, not just the rate: Again, look at the entire deal taking into account all of the above — not just the rate. Mitigating the risk of potential problems with the management of the operations, unscrupulous ethics, up-time / down-time, and unfavorable contract terms are all considerations that will increase your chances of success or major, and costly, headaches. You are better off going with the team that you feel will treat you well and can execute the hosting service you expect.
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